The effects of fluctuations in the nutrient supply on the expression of five members of the AGL17 clade of MADS-box genes in rice

PLoS One. 2014 Aug 20;9(8):e105597. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0105597. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

The ANR1 MADS-box gene in Arabidopsis is a key gene involved in regulating lateral root development in response to the external nitrate supply. There are five ANR1-like genes in Oryza sativa, OsMADS23, OsMADS25, OsMADS27, OsMADS57 and OsMADS61, all of which belong to the AGL17 clade. Here we have investigated the responsiveness of these genes to fluctuations in nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and sulfur (S) mineral nutrient supply. The MADS-box genes have been shown to have a range of responses to the nutrient supply. The expression of OsMADS61 was transiently induced by N deprivation but was not affected by re-supply with various N sources. The expression of OsMADS25 and OsMADS27 was induced by re-supplying with NO3(-) and NH4NO3, but downregulated by NH4(+). The expression of OsMADS57 was significantly downregulated by N starvation and upregulated by 3 h NO3(-) re-supply. OsMADS23 was the only gene that showed no response to either N starvation nor NO3(-) re-supply. OsMADS57 was the only gene not regulated by P fluctuation whereas the expression of OsMADS23, OsMADS25 and OsMADS27 was downregulated by P starvation and P re-supply. In contrast, all five ANR1-related genes were significantly upregulated by S starvation. Our results also indicated that there were interactions among nitrate, sulphate and phosphate transporters in rice.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant*
  • MADS Domain Proteins / genetics
  • MADS Domain Proteins / metabolism*
  • Micronutrients / pharmacology*
  • Nitrogen / pharmacology
  • Oryza / drug effects
  • Oryza / genetics*
  • Oryza / metabolism
  • Phosphorus / pharmacology
  • Plant Proteins / genetics
  • Plant Proteins / metabolism*
  • Sulfur / pharmacology

Substances

  • MADS Domain Proteins
  • Micronutrients
  • Plant Proteins
  • Phosphorus
  • Sulfur
  • Nitrogen

Grants and funding

The research was supported by the International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (grant number 2010DFA34430), International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Project of Science and Technology Department of Zhejiang Province (grant number 2013C34G2010017), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31370215; 31228002), and Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. Z3110004). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.